Aliment Capital is a pioneering growth capital investor in food and agriculture technology. It makes global investments in growing businesses that boost agricultural productivity, nutrition, health, sustainability, and supply chain efficiency. The firm was founded in 2014 and is based in Santa Monica, California.

Aliment Capital

Kairos invests in startups and research in life sciences, physical sciences, and technology led by top academic and industry minds. These technologies have the potential to improve the world. Their team is driven by a strong desire to make a significant impact on the world by establishing businesses that will improve the lives of current and future generations. They intend to accomplish this by investing in the best scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs and assisting them in turning their knowledge, ideas, and discoveries into viable businesses. They anticipate that these companies will have a significant impact on the world while also providing significant returns to their shareholders.

Kairos Ventures

The principals of Spruce Capital Partners are well known investors and thought leaders in the biogreentech sector. They bring a wealth of experience as investors, advisers, and domain experts in helping entrepreneurs build the next generation of successful biogreentech companies. They formed Spruce Capital Partners not only to manage venture funds, but also to develop new talent for the industry, provide thought leadership, and promote innovation in companies and countries. The principals have worked together for more than 10 years and have shepherded investments across multiple funds and multiple sectors. The principals of Spruce Capital Partners are also active in advising, partnering, and shaping the life sciences industry globally and, especially in Malaysia and United States.

Spruce Capital Partners

BASF Venture Capital is the corporate venture capital arm of BASF Group. They invest worldwide in promising young enterprises relevant to BASF’s current and future business fields and also in funds. Besides innovations in the fields of chemistry, new materials and sustainability, their areas of focus include digitization and new business models. They support their portfolio companies through selective interactions with the global research, partnership and customer networks of the BASF Group. They are headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany and have offices in San Francisco, Boston, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, and Tel Aviv.

BASF Venture Capital

DuPont offers sustainable solutions for agriculture, electronics, communications, construction, transportation, and apparel markets. Their products and services include construction materials, fabrics, packaging materials, medical devices, electronic solutions, and adhesives for markets. They provide specialized construction materials to create and maintain roads, bridges, telecommunications, power, and water plants.

Dupont

Temasek Holdings is a lender provider. The company offers debt financing and focuses on transforming economies, increasing middle-income populations, developing comparative advantages, and emerging champions. Financial services, transportation, industrial, consumer, real estate, telecommunications, media, technology, and life sciences are among the industries served by the firm.

Temasek Holdings

Tybourne is a global investment firm with a fundamental approach to equity investing, both public and private

Tybourne Capital Management

Lanx Capital is an investment company investing in private equity, venture capital, and real estate companies. Founded by Marcelo Barbará and Marcelo Medeiros, Lanx Capital is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Lanx Capital

The firm is a 25-year-old global investment firm focused on healthcare with approximately $5.8 billion in AUM, which we have invested in over 290 public and private companies worldwide. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in Asia.  Our team consists of 50 multi-disciplinary professionals, including, physicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, operating executives, and industry experts. The firm operates as a multi-fund investment platform, covering growth equity, private equity including buyout, venture capital, and public equity. Vivo invests broadly in healthcare across all fund strategies, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services, with a focus on the largest healthcare markets.

Vivo Capital

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a grant-making foundation that supports initiatives in education, world health and population, and community giving in the Pacific Northwest. In its local region, the foundation promotes strategies and programs that help low income families.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was co-founded by Bill Gates and Melinda Gates in 2000 and is based in Seattle, Washington, with regional offices in Washington, D.C.; New Delhi, India; Beijing, China; and London, United Kingdom. Its trustees are Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Provivi

Provivi is developing biopesticides for agriculture, commercial, household, and public health pest management. It has a world-class team of founders, scientists, and advisors with significant experience in biotechnology (including biocatalysis), the fine chemicals industry, and, in particular, the agchem industry. It pursues disruptive opportunities enabled by breakthrough biological processes for making supply-limited products that are efficacious, safe, and environmentally benign. Provivi was founded in 2013 based on biocatalysis technology developed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) which has since become a licensor, shareholder, and research collaborator. It is based in 	Santa Monica, California.

Provivi is a pioneering biotechnology company revolutionizing sustainable pest control in agriculture through its innovative pheromone-based technology. Founded in 2013, the company harnesses the power of insect pheromones, natural chemical compounds used for communication, to disrupt pest mating patterns effectively reducing their population. Provivi's groundbreaking solution lures pests away from their intended partners by releasing synthetic versions of pheromones, causing confusion and ultimately decreasing pest reproduction rates. This approach is highly effective, environmentally friendly, and a game-changer in promoting ecological balance in agriculture.

Provivi-Top Ten Things You Need To Know.

Provivi to Speak at World Agri-Tech South America Summit 2022

Provivi and Syngenta Crop Protection launch pheromone-based Nelvium™ to control detrimental rice pests

Provivi Inc.

Provivi to launch crop protection products in 2020

Biologically protecting plants from pests

Biopesticides

Provivi and Syngenta Crop Protection launch pheromone-based technology Nelvium™ to control detrimental rice pests

Syngenta

To effectively and more safely control detrimental pests in rice

Companies that use machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to develop plant-based replacements to synthetic chemical. These companies develop biochemicals that use naturally occurring substances such as pheromones, and insect attractants to trap and control pests in plants.  This also includes companies that offer plant intelligence for creating biochemicals.

Provivi is a pioneering biotechnology company revolutionizing sustainable pest control in agriculture through its innovative pheromone-based technology. Founded in 2013, the company harnesses the power of insect pheromones, natural chemical compounds used for communication, to disrupt pest mating patterns effectively reducing their population. Provivi's groundbreaking solution lures pests away from their intended partners by releasing synthetic versions of pheromones, causing confusion and ultimately decreasing pest reproduction rates. This approach is highly effective, environmentally friendly, and a game-changer in promoting ecological balance in agriculture.
Provivi's core technology revolves around utilizing insect pheromones to disrupt pest mating patterns sustainably controlling pest infestations. By eliminating the need for harmful chemical pesticides, the company's approach minimizes environmental pollution and preserves biodiversity. Its precision targeting of specific pests ensures minimal impact on beneficial insects and non-target organisms. Additionally, Provivi's technology helps mitigate the development of pesticide-resistant pest populations, ensuring long-term effectiveness.
The company's pheromone-based solutions have demonstrated enhanced crop yields and potentially lower production costs for farmers by reducing reliance on chemical pesticides. Provivi's technology is adaptable to various agricultural environments worldwide, benefiting both smallholder farmers and large-scale commercial operations across diverse crops.
In March 2022, Provivi and Syngenta Crop Protection launched Nelvium, Indonesia's first mating disruption product for rice, helping growers manage key pests more effectively. This marked a significant milestone in Provivi's multi-year collaboration with Syngenta to combat challenges caused by rice stem borers.

Groundwork BioAg is an Israeli bioagriculture company that produces mycorrhizal inoculants for mainstream agriculture. Its flagship product line, Rootella, consists of highly concentrated mycorrhizal fungi that establish a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, extending their reach into the soil. This symbiosis enables plants to access otherwise unavailable nutrients, especially phosphorus, leading to significant crop yield improvements. Additionally, Rootella enhances plant resilience to various stresses like drought and salinity while reducing fertilizer dependency.
Groundwork BioAg's Mycorrhizal BioPlatform, driven by innovative high-volume production techniques, has been successfully commercialized across major agricultural regions globally. These include the US, Brazil, China, India, Canada, Ukraine, Europe, Asia, and Africa, catering to crops like corn, soybeans, grains, fruits, and vegetables. A standout offering is Tormos, a granular mycorrhizal inoculant tailored for Indian farming practices, developed through a collaboration with ADAMA.
In 2022, Groundwork BioAg raised USD 18 million in Series B funding led by Climate Innovation Capital, underscoring the demand for yield-enhancing biologicals that sequester carbon and promote regenerative agriculture. The company's technology enables conventional and regenerative farmers to achieve higher profitability while permanently sequestering carbon in their fields. Groundwork BioAg has also launched the Rootella Carbon program in 2023, aiming to sequester one gigaton of CO2 within a decade through its mycorrhizal inoculants.
Key customers and partnerships
In 2023, Groundwork BioAg expanded its North American team by appointing Andrew Duff as General Manager to accelerate the adoption of Rootella mycorrhizal inoculants among mainstream growers in the US.
In June 2022, Groundwork BioAg partnered with ADAMA, a leading global crop protection company, to offer the Tormos mycorrhizal inoculant in India. This collaboration leverages ADAMA's extensive farmer network and Groundwork BioAg's Mycorrhizal BioPlatform to provide cost-effective solutions to Indian growers.

Groundwork BioAG

Solasta Bio is a Glasgow-based agritech company specializing in the development of peptide-based bioinsecticides for crop protection. Founded in 2020 as a spin-out from the University of Glasgow, the company has created the world's first technology platform for producing neuropeptide-based Insect Control Agents (ICAs) derived from nature rather than synthetic chemistry.
These ICAs are designed to disrupt targeted physiological processes in insect pests, effectively controlling them while leaving beneficial pollinators like bees and other non-target species unharmed. Solasta Bio's solutions offer unique insect specificity, proven efficacy on par with traditional chemical insecticides, and an environmentally friendly, biodegradable approach that does not accumulate residues in nature.
Solasta Bio's platform enables the company to target a wide spectrum of pests, including those resistant to synthetic chemistries. The company aims to bring its first ICA products to market by 2027/2028, approximately half the time traditionally required for synthetic pest control products. Its technology is patent-protected, and an additional patent application is pending.
In February 2024, Solasta Bio announced the successful completion of over 20 field trials across Europe, the UK, and the US, demonstrating the efficacy and safety of its ICAs across various crops and pests, including aphids, Spotted Wing Drosophila, caterpillars, and leafhoppers.

Solasta Bio

Enko Chem, Inc. is a crop health company focused on developing sustainable crop solutions to address global food security challenges. The company utilizes its proprietary ENKOMPASS technology platform, which combines DNA-encoded library screening, machine learning, and structure-based design, to discover novel crop protection chemistries. This approach enables Enko to rapidly identify new, better-performing, and more targeted molecules across various categories of crop protection products.
Enko's current pipeline is led by a range of herbicides designed to break cycles of weed and pest resistance while reducing environmental impact compared to existing solutions. The company aims to provide effective crop protection solutions that help growers adapt to and mitigate challenges exacerbated by climate change, such as pesticide-resistant weeds, fungus, and pests.
Since its inception in 2017, Enko has generated hundreds of leading molecules through its technology platform. In January 2023, the company announced an USD 80 million Series C funding round, bringing its total capital raised to USD 150 million. The additional funds will be utilized to advance Enko's product pipeline and support the company's efforts to bring new crop protection solutions to market.

Enko Chem

BioPhero is a Denmark-based company that has developed a pioneering and highly efficient yeast fermentation process for manufacturing pheromones at significantly lower costs and with fewer production steps compared to traditional chemical synthesis methods. Pheromones are compounds used in integrated pest management programs for controlling insect populations by disrupting the mating process, thereby reducing egg-laying and decreasing the next generation of the target insect species. BioPhero's patented fermentation technology allows for the sustainable and cost-effective production of pheromones, expanding their potential application from specialty crops like fruits and vegetables to large-scale row crops such as corn, soybeans, and rice.
Through its innovative bioprocessing platform, BioPhero aims to make pheromones widely available and contribute to sustainable agriculture by offering an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional insecticides. The company's pheromone products are highly specific to target pests, promoting biodiversity and posing no threat to pollinators or beneficial insects. FMC Corporation, a leading agricultural sciences company, acquired BioPhero in July 2022 for approximately USD 200 million, integrating its pheromone platform into FMC's biologicals business. FMC projects revenue from pheromones and pheromone-based insect control products to reach approximately USD 1 billion with above company-average EBITDA margin by 2030.

BioPhero

Redag Crop Protection is a biotechnology research and development company focused on developing novel crop protection products. The company's core technology is the Redox Switch platform, which allows for the creation of new compounds by modifying the oxidation state of existing best-in-class products. This approach provides Redag Crop Protection with a pipeline of candidates across multiple high-value applications in the crop protection industry.
The Redox Switch platform offers several advantages. It enables the company to secure intellectual property rights around existing products by creating structurally similar but chemically distinct compounds. These new compounds share similarities with well-characterized parent compounds, reducing the risk profile, development time, testing redundancy, and overall cost of bringing products to market. Additionally, the structural similarity to existing product classes means that Redag Crop Protection can leverage current manufacturing assets, further reducing market entry costs.

Redag Crop Protection

Companies that use microscopic living organisms (such as viruses, bacteria or nematodes) or toxins produced by these organisms to act as pest control. This also includes companies developing technology platforms to use microorganism chemistry to develop different kinds of microbial pesticides.

Companies that develop pesticide substances produced by plants as a result of genetic manipulation. These companies use technology such as genetic engineering to derive natural substances that plants can produce to kill pests that feed on them.

Companies that use naturally occurring plant materials such as Azadirachtin, nicotinoids, natural pyrethrins, rotenoids,  and neem products in full or dilute form for pest and insect controls.

Companies that use natural enemies or predators like lady beetle, true bug, lacewings or parasitoids to protect the plants from pests.

Companies that use natural resources such as diatomaceous earth, mineral oil, water, minerals such as sulfur, potassium, or even organic acids for controlling various types of pests.

Companies that use biologically-derived substances such as microorganisms, seaweed extracts, and other organic matter that are applied to the plants or the soil to improve nutrient uptake, enhance tolerance of plant stress, and in turn improve crop growth and yield.

Provides natural alternatives to chemical pesticides

Processes often use AI and machine learning-based tech platforms to formulate biopesticides

Provivi

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